Brett Kavanaugh Wasn't Defending His Innocence. He Was Asking for Forgiveness

First, let’s get two things straight, about which if you are unclear there is plenty written.

One: After hearing Brett Kavanuaugh’s drinking history, it's impossible to believe he’s never blacked out. At one point, he had a back and forth with Amy Klobuchar where she tried to grill him on this point.

Kavanaugh: I think you’ve probably had beers, Senator.

Klobuchar: So you’re saying there’s never been a case where you drank so much where you didn’t remember what happened the night before, or part of what happened?

Kavanaugh: You’re asking about blackout—I don’t know. Have you?

Klobuchar: Could you answer the question, Judge? That’s not happened: is that your answer?

Kavanaugh: Yeah, and I’m curious if you have.

Klobuchar: I have no drinking problem.

Kavanaugh: Neither do I.

What Klobuchar should have said is, “Yes, there have been times in my life where my memory has become hazy from drinking, like almost every other adult. Except for you, miraculously. But I have never been accused of sexually assaulting someone.”

Two: After hearing Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony, in which she said she was 100% certain it was Kavanuagh who pinned her to a bed and attempted to muffle her cries for help with his hand, it's impossible not to at least begin to believe her, even if you are the most cold-hearted Lindsey Graham motherfucker. The two other women who came forward only furthered this fact. 

If you concede these two points, that Ford's testimony was convincing and Kavanaugh has a history of heavy drinking, Kavanaugh’s denials fall flat. There's no way he can say for certain he didn't sexually assault Ford and/or others, because there's no way he remembers everything when he was drunk. 

That didn’t stop him from denying, denying, denying, but he must have realized that a simple denial might not be enough. So, throughout the hours of questioning, he tried another tactic.

In so many words, he asked for forgiveness.

Perhaps forgiveness is too strong a word, as there is some implication of humility. He asked people to look the other way.

He provided myriad reasons why they should look the other way. Boiled down, they fall under three basic tenants. Kavanuagh's words in quotes:

1) It was so long ago. I was so young. I’m not that kid anymore.

• “More than 36 years ago, when we were both in high school…”
• “We sit here today, some 36 years after the alleged event occurred.”
• “I was 17 years old, between my junior and senior years of high school.”
• “If we want to talk about flatulence, age 16, on a yearbook page, I’m game.”
• “As high school students, we sometimes did stupid things. I doubt we are alone in looking back at high school and cringing at some things.”
• “Yes, of course, we went to parties. Of course we went to parties. The yearbook page describes that and kind of makes fun of it. If we want to sit here and talk about whether a Supreme Court nomination should be based on a high school yearbook page, I think that’s taking this to a new level of absurdity.”
• “I drank beer with my friends. Almost everyone did. Sometimes I had too many beers… I liked beer. I still like beer.” To which his wife said:

2) Besides the sexual assaulting, I’m a lot like you (probably even better). I've done a lot of nice things, and I'm very successful. I can even hang out with girls and not hit on them.

• “Listen to people I’ve played with, and worked with, and coached with, and gone to games with, and had beers with.”
• “One of my closest friends is a woman who was sexually abused. She confided in me and sought my advice.”
• “My mom went to law school, and overcame workplace barriers, including sexual harassment that so many women faced at the time and still face today.”
• “The other night my daughter said her prayers. And little Liza said, we should pray for the woman.”
• “Going to church on Sundays was like brushing my teeth: automatic. It still is.”
• “One feature of my life, that remains true to this day, is that I’ve always had a lot of close female friends. I’m not talking about girlfriends. I’m talking about friends who are women.”
•  “If every American who drinks beer, or every American who drank beer in high school, is suddenly presumed guilty of sexual assault, it will be an ugly new place in this country.”
•  “The majority of my 48 law clerks have been women.”
• “I've coached my two daughters' basketball teams.”
• “I busted my butt in academics. I played sports. I was captain of the varsity basketball team. I did service projects at the school.”
•  “I got into Yale College. I got into Yale Law School. I worked my tail off.” 

3) Haven’t I suffered enough? I don’t deserve to be punished more. Not approving my nomination is excessive, in light of everything I've already been through.

• “My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed.”
• “This has destroyed my family and my good name, a good name built up through decades of hard work and public service at the very highest levels of government.”
• “I love teaching law. Because of this, I may never be able to teach again.”
• “I love coaching more than anything in my life. Thanks to some of you on the committee, I may never be able to coach again.”
• “Explaining this to our daughters has been about the worst experience of our lives.”

Many of these points were repeated dozens of times—sometimes phrased differently, sometimes repeated word for word—during the rambling and storytelling of Kavanuagh’s testimony as he continually attempted to salt away the five minutes each senator was limited in their questioning. 

And here’s the thing: I think Kavanaugh regrets a lot of his behavior. I think it’s probably been a long time since he got drunk and attempted to assault a woman. I think those were real tears when he said he’d talked about the yearbook with his former high school classmates and they'd all cringed at what they'd written, such as "Renate alumnus" a clear reference to claiming he'd had sex with a woman named Renate (which he denied). To which his wife said:

I think what Kavanuagh really wanted to come right out and say is, “Come on, guys. I’m fine now. Can we all just forget this stuff happened and move on? I've been working in the public arena for 28 years and nothing has come out about this. It's not fair that it's been unearthed this week, of all weeks!"

But it doesn’t look very good for a Supreme Court justice to say he should skirt the law (and there is no statute of limitations in Maryland). So he danced around it.

He hammered home the point that we've all done naughty things when we were younger, which probably rang especially true with many members of the US Senate.

He focused on the normalizing aspects of his life. Doesn’t the good outweigh the bad?

He propped himself up as a victim, something many members of the committee echoed when they began their questioning by apologizing for what he and his family had been through (before adding a token apology to Ford and her family, though considering the Republican side denies the assault happened it's unclear about what they were apologizing.)

And, finally, predictably, enough of the committee acquiesced. 

I don't think it's because they believed Kavanuagh didn't do it. I think it's because they believed he doesn't do it anymore, and he's at least somewhat remorseful, and that's enough. 

They needed their guy on the court, the highest court in our distinguished country, a phrase repeated often in the hearings: how this “circus” had become "a disgrace to the highest court in the land" or "a disgrace to the country." 

It's inaccurate. 

For something to be disgraced, it has to have some semblance of dignity to begin with. The highest court oversees a land where the president himself is a sexual assaulter. This entire process, and this judge, is a credit to America.